Ghost and Oil Lamp
1810
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
1810
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Ghost and Oil Lamp is a 1810 unspecified by Tani Bun'ichi, a Nihonga work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
The painting shows a ghost standing next to an oil lamp. The ghost is painted in a simple style, which makes it seem eerie. This painting is interesting because it tells a story about the supernatural, which was a popular theme in Japanese art. You can learn more about similar paintings by visiting the museum where this one is kept, The Cleveland Museum of Art.
Tani Bun’ichi was the adopted son of Tani Buncho (1763-1840), a master painter and connoisseur. A Bun’ichi painting remarkably similar to this one that depicts a ghost by a lacquer lamp stand, is in the collection the Tokyo temple Zensho-an. That painting once belonged to Sanyutei Encho (1839-1900), a famed raconteur of ghost stories who donated his collection of ghost paintings to the temple. An inscription in gold on the lamp stand in this painting, identical in content to that on the Zensho-an painting, indicates that it was executed in the 12th month of 1810. Bun’ichi explains that he did…
Read the full account in the museum source.
Tani Bun'ichi (1786–1818) was a Japanese artist, born in Yagenbori.
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